Telephone-message apparatus



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 am a? Q 54 44 31 14471 C1 Hem W1 m N w :Q UA 2 2 i a smm Mm TELEPHONE MESSAGE APPARATUS Flled Sept 8 192'? Dec 10, 1929 Dec.10, 1929. s. ZULLO 1,738,551 TELEPHONE MESSAGE AIPARATUS Filed Sept. 8,1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 8 t z WM O Dec. 10, 1929. s ZULLQ TELEPHONEMESSAGE APPARATUS Filed Sept. 8, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Sn'vemtoz WM 85M0 fitter/44013 dim/w a 6 Patent Bee. to," was SAE'UEL Z'ULLO, OF JERSEYCITY, NEW JERSEY TELEPHONE-MESSAGE APPARATUS Application filed September3, 1927. Serial No. 218,142.

speech recording instrument, such as a dictaphone, together with suchsubmechanisms as will provide an automatic apparatus adapted.

to receive an incoming telephone call, trans mit a standard messageadvising the calling party that he is talking to an apparatus, re-

ceive and record a message and finally transmit such a message to thesubscriber.

I have selected a standard dictaphone as the recording device because itis well known,

may be considered as a standard in its field and because it may be usedas dictaphone per se apart from its function as a part of my invention.

Accordingly my invention is embodied in an'apparatus to accomplish theforegoing objects and as set forth in the following specification readin connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a planview of an apparatus embodying my invention with parts removed andbroken away.

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of certain parts shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view looking in the direction of arrow 3 in Figure 1with parts omitted and broken away.

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the apparatus with parts omitted and brokenaway.

5 is a detail sectional view on line5-5 of Figure 1. I g

Inasmuch as a dictaphone is a well known instrument in use in thousandsof places, only so much of it is shown and described as is necessary foran understanding of my in- I vention. In describing the dictaphoneitself the arrangement of the speaking tubes shown in the drawings mustbe disregarded because they are shown arranged in accordance with myinvention.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 13 designates the dictaphone baseor main casmg which contains a motor 14:, shown diagrammatically inFigure 3. The motor drives a pulley 15 on a record shaft 16 which isadapted to carry the usual cylinder record 17. The casing l3'carries'two, upstanding brackets 18, 18 which support two shafts 19 and 20. 21designates the usual dictaphone sound box slidably mounted on shaft 19and clutched thereto by a clutching lever 23.

The latter is shown in its normal neutral position in the drawings, butwhen said lever is moved rearwards, to the left in Figure 3, the soundbox is clutched to the operating shaft 19 and slides along said shaft asthe latter is rotated. The sound box is guided by a depending member 33which slides on the shaft 20. The incoming speech, i. e. the dictatedmessage is carried to the soundbox by a speaking tube and recorded onthe recording cylinder 17, all in a well known manner. v

The motor is usually connected to a lamp socket or other outlet by wires24. The m0- tor circuit is broken at contacts 25,-but closed by a switch26 carried on a rod 27 pivoted at 28 to a hook lever 29 which is pivotedto the machine at 31. The hook lever 29 supports the dictaphone speakingtube which by its weight keeps'the switch 26 away from the contacts 25.When the operator lifts the tube to dictate, the rod 27 drops, theswitch 26 closes the motor circuit and the dictaphone starts operating.This is all old in the art and thought to be adequate for anunderstanding of this invention.

For the pur oses of my invention I rovide the dictap one with a secondsound ox 35 which is mounted and operates exactly like the sound box 21.called the transmitting sound box for purposes of identification, whilebox 35 will be called the receiving sound box. Tov the latter is aflixeda speaking tube 22 endin Y in a mouth-piece 32 which rests by gravity 1nthe 95 hook lever 29. The tube 22 and receivingsound box 35 functions inthe same manner as the dictating or speaking tube on thestandarddictaphone.

, The transmitting sound box 21 is also pro- The latter will be videdwith a speaking tube 36 with a mouthpiece 37 which is held in apredetermined fixed position in a bracket 38 secured to the dictaphone.

I use a standard telephone for starting and operating the apparatus. Thetelephone is shown in conventional form and comprises the stand 10, thetransmitter 11 and the receiw'er 12. A shelf 40 is attached tothedictaphone base in any suitable manner and is adapted to support thetelephone in a sllghtly inclined position as shown so'that thetransmitter 11 registers with the mouthpiece 37 and the telephonereceiver registers with the mouthpiece 32. I

lVhile the inclined position of the telephone is not essential, it ispreferred because in such position the receiver 12 hangs away from thestand 10 as best seen in Figure 4 and more space is obtained below thereceiver for registry with the mouthpiece 32. For convenience inpositioning the telephone, the shelf 40 is provided with an upstandingflange 41.

The operation and functioning of the apparatus is controlled by a timingmechanism which is automatically actuated by an incoming telephonecalland which timing mechanism in turn automatically causes thedictaphone to operate a predetermined length of time so as to receiveand record the incoming message. At the end of the period, the tim-.

ing mechanism stops the operation of the dictaphone and returns certainparts to starting position ready for the next operation. The timing andcontrol mechanism is preferably embodied in a unitary structure adaptedto be mounted as an assembled unit on the base of the dictaphone.

To this end there is formed a bracket like casting 42 comprising a frontwall 43 and a rear wall 44 joined by suitably placed transverse members45, 45. Any suitable fastening means may be used for mounting thisbracket on the dictaphone. The screw 46 in Figure 4 indicates suchmeans. The bracket 42 supports a spring motor 47 adapted to be rewoundby a suitable tool, not shown, applied to the rewinding shaft 48. Themotor 47 drives a shaft 49 by means of gears 50 and 51. The shaft 49carries outside the bracket a disk 52 having a notch 53 and a pin 54.The notch 53 isengaged by a pawl 55 which thus prevents the motor fromrotating so long as the pawl engages the notch. In the bracket isfurther mounted a cam shaft 58 which carries a cam 59 adapted to causethe telephone receiver 12 to be loweredto cut off the telephone circuit(hang up the receiver) at the end of operations. The cam has a neutralsurface or seat 60 upon which rests the rear end of the hook lever 29which is being kept on said seat by a spring 61. The cam also has alifting portion 62 and a stop 63. The cam shaft 58 is provided with apin 64 within the bracket 42 and an arm 65 outside the bracket, seeFigure 1. The inside pin 64 is connected by a chain 66 with the armatureof an electromagnet 67. The outside arm 65 rests on the upper end 68 ofa pivoted lever 69 adapted to be operated by the aforesaid pin 54 in thedisk 52. The electromagent 67, shown as a two coil magnet or relay, isconveniently mounted on a shelf 71 which may be a part of the bracket42.

The pawl 55 is carried by a stop shaft 72. Inside the bracket 42 thisshaft 72 carries a stop arm 73 and a starting arm/74, see Figure 2. Thestop arm 73 engages a stop pin 75 on the governor shaft 76 which carriesa governor 77, Figure 1. The starting arm 74 rests on the bevelled head78 of a slide 79 mounted in a block 80 afiixed to the bracket wall 43.

The pawl 55 and the starting arm 74, both in the stop shaft 72, rest bygravity on the disk 55 and head 78, respectively, and thus tend to keepthe stop arm 73 normally in the path of movement of the pin 75 on thegovernor shaft.

The governor shaft 76 is rotated by a train of gears 78, 79 and 80. Thegear 78 is mounted on the shaft 49. On the latter and in front of thewall 43 of the bracket 42, see Figures 1 and 5, there is mounted a cam82which operates a vertical slide 83 which at its top carries a turnablehead 84. The latter ries a pin 85 and a finger 86. The shaft 49 furthercarries a returning cam 87 adapted to engage a knob 88 on the dependingguide piece 33 from the recording unit 21. The pin 85 engages a slottedlever 90 secured to the clutching lever 23 on the recording unit 21. Therelay 67 is energized by means of a small local circuit shown in Figure4. The relay 67 is connected in series with a battery 92 and a relay 93which is adapted to be energized from the telephone bell circuit 94.When the bell 195 rings, the relay 93 is energized and closes thecircuit through the battery'and the relay 67 energizing the latter.

The use of the apparatus presupposes that a suitable informing messagehas been spoken into the mouthpiece 37 and conveyed through the tube 36to the unit 21 and recorded on the record cylinder 17, this operationbeing done in exactly the same manner as when dictating to thedictaphone. During this operation, however, the operator manipulates thefinger piece 86 to turn the pin 85 out of the groove in the slottedmember 90. In other words, the timing mechanism is disconnected from thedictaphone, the informing message recorded by thelatter and the partsrestored to normal position as shown. On a small part of the cylinder 17there is now an informing message ready to be transmitted to the partywho calls up during the absence of the subscriber.

Thereafter the dictaphone mechanism is carma am placed in position readyto operate. That is, the lever 23 of the recording unit 21 is put inclutched position with the pin 85 engaging the slotted lever 90, seeFigure 2. At the same time, the corresponding clutching lever 123 of thedictaphone receiving unit is put in clutching position,

When a party desires to receive telephone calls during his absence, heplaces the telephone on the shelf so that the transmitter and receiverregister with the mouthpieces 37 and 32 respectively. When a call comesin, the relay 67 is energized as aforesaid and the armature 70 pullsdown the pin 64: through the chain 66, thereby rocking the shaft 58anticlockwise and rotating the cam 59 a short distance. The sprin 61therefore pulls down the rear end of the hook lever 29 and raises thefront end which carries the mouthpiece 32 and the telephone receiver12.. Consequently the latter is lifted ofi the telephone hook and theline is ready for messages. The rear end of the hook lever 29 now restson the low part of the cam 59 against the stop 63. The anticlockwisemovement of the shaft 58 has also lowered the pin 65 totip the lever 69so that its lower end projects into the path of the pin 54 on the disk52.

The lowering of the hook lever 29 on the cam 59 closes the motorcircuit, see Figure 3; the motor commences to operate and thetwo units21 and 35 commence to move on shaft 19. Immediately thereafter, becausethere is nothing to prevent it, the informing message notifying thecaller to deliver his message to the machine, is spoken into thetelephone transmitter 11 from the sound box 21 and the tube 36. At thistime the two sound boxes 21 and 35 have moved along the record cylindera certain distance depending upon the length of the informing messageand the caller has been notified of the absence of the subscriber.

It will be noticed, then, that when the sound box 21 moves, the slottedlever 90 will strike the sliding member 79 projecting from the block 80and consequently the head 78 will move to the left in Figure 2 and willlift the starting arm 74 and rock the shaft 72 anticlockwise, therebylifting the stop arm 73 away from the governor stop pin 75, and the pawlout of the notch 53 on disk 52.

I The spring motor 47 is now free to rotate.

The rotation of the motor operates the governor to steady the movementsof the parts as is obvious and also rotates the shaft 49. The latter,through the instrumentality of the cam 82 causes the slide 83 and pin 85to rise, thus moving the clutching lever 23 back to normal or neutral.

At the same time, however, the returning cam 87 has rotated to engagethe pin 88 to tion, the pawl 55 drops into the notch 53 and preventsfurther rotation. But at this time, the pin 54 has engaged lever 69 tolift the arm to rock the shaft 58 and cam 59 clockwise. Consequently thehook/lever 29 is lifted and the mouthpiece and telephone receiver islowered to out off the telephone connection.

To recapitulate :-When the telephone rings the relay 67 is energized andthrough the chaintifi rocks the shaft 58 a short distance anticlockwise.This causes operation of the cam 59 to lower the lever 29 to lift thereceiver ofi the hook and close the motor circuit. The dictaphonecommences to work and moves both sound boxes 21 and 35 to the left inFigure 4. The sound box 21 immediately transmits the short informingmessage on the cylinder 17 into the telephone transmitter 37 advisingthe calling party. Simultanenously therewith the slotted lever 90 of theunit 21 has moved slide head 78 to lift arm 74 to rock the shaft 72anticlockwise, thereby freeing the governor mechanism from the stop arm73, and freeing the disk 52 from the pawl 55. Consequently the springmotor is free to rotate. It rotates shaft 49 and the cams 82 and 87 dotwo things in combination. First, cam 82 raises the pin 85 andunclutches 21 from the shaft 19. Second, the returning cam 87 strikesthe knob or pin '88 on unit 21 (which has moved up to the cam) andreturns the unit 21 to normal neutral position.

We have now reached a point in the operation where the telephone callhas been received and the apparatus automatically started. The informingmessage has been transmitted from the dictaphone to the telephonetransmitter via tube 36 and the sound box 21 has been unclutched fromthe shaft 19 and moved back into starting position. It will, however, beremembered, that during these operations, the dictaphone motor iscontinuing ,to run the dictaphone. Consequently as soon as the informing(outgoing) message has been spoken, the caller may respond with an in--coming message which will be deliveredby the telephone receiver to thesecond sound box via the tube 22, and from the second box 35 theincoming message will be recorded on the record cylinder 17, becausethese two elements keep on operating while the'first sound box is beingmoved back tostarting position.

The apparatus stops when the stop shaft has made one completerevolution. and the pin 54 has gone around once and now strikes thelever 69, raising its upper end to lift the arm 65 and rotate the shaft58 clockwise, causing the cam 59 to raise the hook lever 29 back tonormal position, break the motor circuit and the cycle of operations iscompleted.

The cycle of operations may therefore be summarlzed as follows :Theringing of the telephone bell energizes the relay 67, which pulls downpin 64 to rock the shaft 58 to move cam 59 anticlockwise away from underthe hook lever 29. The latter is pulled down by the spring'61 to liftthe telephone receiver 0 thehook and close the motorcircuit. This startsthe dictaphone and both sound boxes 21 {and 35 commence to travel alongthe recording'cylinder 17 The movement of sound box 21 operates todisengage the pawl 53 from the disk 52 through the instrumentality ofthe elements shown in Figure 2 and starts the timing mechanism.

During the first movement of the sound boxes, the informing message issent out through sound box 21 and at the same time at the end of theinforming message, the slide 83 has risen to move lever 23 to unclutchthe first sound box and the returning cam is ready to return said soundbox to starting osition. As soon as the informing message as beenspoken, the incoming call is received bythe second sound box andrecorded, while the first sound box returns to initial position. Whenthis has been accom lished, the motor circuit is automatically bro enbecause the cam 59 is operated clockwise back to starting position tolower the hook lever, and the spring motor is stopped because the pawl55 falls into the notch 53 of the disk 52.

At the end of the operation we therefore find sound box 21 back intostartingposition, but sound box 35 has advanced along the shaft 19 andrecorded the incoming call on the cylinder 17 and stops in its newposition.

If the incoming message has not. been completed, the caller rings again.The same operations are gone through with and at the end thereof soundbox 21 is again back into starting position, but sound box 35 has beenstill further advanced along the shaft 19.

Therefore, at the beginning of each call the two sound boxes traveltogether a distance determined by the length of the informing message.Thereafter the first sound box re turns to starting position, while thesecond sound box continues its travel and records the incoming message.

In the instance illustrated it will be seen therefore, that theapparatus is of sufficient capacity to permit a completeinformingoutgoing-message, and can record an incoming message of alength dependent upon the length of time it takes to return the firstsound box to starting position.

To illustrate :Assume that the. first sound box 21 travels one quarterof an inch in' order to transmit an informing message to the effect thatthe subscriber is out but will return. at a certain time and for thecaller to deliver his message to the apparatus. When this has beenaccomplished,'both sound boxes have travelled one quarter of an inch.The second sound box, however, has not recorded anything, but willcommence to do so, as soon as the incomlng message is being delivered.The first sound box Is now unclutched from the dictaphone and returns ata speed, not depending upon the dictaphone o rations but dependent uponthe rate of s eed at t which the spring motor operates and t e contouror side of the returning cam 49, because the sound box 21 does notreturn to starting position until the said cam strikes the knob 88 andmoves it back. During this time, of course, the second sound box recordsthe incomin call and may for this purpose have a trave of perhaps up tohalf an inch.

At the beginning of the second operation, the two sound boxes againtravel together, and for a space of another one quarter of an inch thesecond sound will again travel idly, thereby automatically separatingthe incomin calls.

11 practise, the length of travel for the purpose of transmitting theoutgoing informing message will be made as short as is practical, 35while the return stroke of the sound box 21 Will be delayed as long asis practical in order to permit the sound box 35 to receive the in--coming call While travelling at dictaphone speed. This is accomplishedby the proper 90 proportioning of the timing mechanism elements.

As a matter of convenience there is placed a bar across the dictaphone,and said bar 1s spaced and numbered as shown to indicate 95 I the numberof incoming calls which may be received. The sound box 35 carries apointer I 96. It is obvious, therefore, that the position of the pointerindicates to the returning subscriber the number of calls receivedduring his absence.

The telephone may now be removed and' the dicta hone started to relay orretransmit to the subscriber through sound box 35 and tube 22 therecorded calls made during his 1 5 absence- When it is desired to usethe dictaphone for ordinary dictating purposes, the timing mechanism isrendered inoperative by the 0p erator taking hold of the finger piece86, Figure 2, and turning the pin 85 out of engagement with the slottedlever 90 and placing the latter in neutral position. Therefore, when thedictaphone starts operating, the telephone being of course removed, thefirst sound box 21 will not travel along the shaft 19. The operator,however, starts the dictaphone in the usual manner by a manuallyoperated switch, not shown, and dictates through'mouthpiece 32 and tube22 to the second sound box Which operates as usual. The only differenceis that When the apparatus is operated as a dictaphone per se, theavailable recording space is diminished for a distance from the innerend of the record to the point where the second sound box begins torecord. I i 7 From the foregoing it will be seen that without making anymaterial change in the dictaphone except adding the second Sound i box,which is a standard dictaphone part, it is made available for thepurposes of the invention. The timing mechanism is simple and sure inoperation and is the medium,

through which the dictaphone and the telephone are combined toaccomplish the result aimed at.

In practise the timing mechanism maybe concealed by a suitable casing,not shown. Other details may be changed, but this is believed to bewithin the scope of the person skilled in the art and within thelegitimate and intended scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recordinginstrument of the character described having a recording cylinder andtwo sound boxes in sound transmitting relation to the cylinder whichlatter bears a recorded message, means for placing the transmitter andthe receiver of the telephone set in operative relation to the two soundboxes and means for operating the latter so that at each operation onesound box transmits the said same recorded message to the telephonetransmitter and the other sound box records an incoming message on thecylinder from the telephone receiver.

2. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of thecharacter described having a single recording cylinder and two soundboxes, said cylinder having a message recorded thereon, means foroperating the said two sound boxes and controlling mechanism regulatingthe operation of the sound boxes whereby one of them transmits therecorded message to the telephone transmitter while the other sound boxis inactive and wherebv the other sound box records an incoming messageon said cylinder from the telephone receiver while the first sound boxreturns to initial position.

3. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of thecharacter described having a recording cylinder and two sound boxes, atelephone set, means for placing the telephone transmitter and the tele-4 phone receiver in operative relations with said sound boxes, meansactuated by the signalling current of the telephone circuit to cause thesaid recording instrument to operate, a controllin mechanism actuated byone of said sound boxes for controlling the period of operation of theother sound box and for returning the said first sound box to startingposition each time the said recording instrument is operated.

4. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of thecharacter described having a recording cylinder and two sound boxes,mechanism for causing said recordin instrument to operate both of saidsound oxes from given starting positions to given finishing positions totransmit and record, respectively from and to said recording cylinder,an outgoing and an incoming message via the telephone transmitter andtelephone receiver, respectively, and means in saidmechanism to returnthe transmitting sound box to its starting position while the receivingsound box moves to its finishing position.

5. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of thecharacter described having a recording cylinder and two sound boxes,mechanism for causing said recording instrument to operate both of saidsound boxes from given starting positions to given finishing positionswith respect to the recording cylinder to transmit and record thereon,respectively, an outgoing and an incoming message via the telephonetransmitter and telephone receiver, respectively, and means in saidmechanism to return the transmitting sound box to its starting positionwhile the receiving sound box moves to its finishing position, andvisible means operated by the receiving sound box for indicating thenumber of operations of the said recording instrument.

SAMUEL ZULLO.

